Bloomberg Calls Lynn Redgrave’ NIGHTINGALE, “A Triple Triumph!”

NIGHTINGALE, the new play written by and starring Lynn Redgrave, opened last night at Manhattan Theatre Club at New York City Center – Stage I.

Below is an excerpt from John Simon’s rave review from Bloomberg News.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aibMbhqkoaCQ

Ill, Unfazed Redgrave Real Trouper

in ‘Nightingale’

Review by John Simon

Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) – Lynn Redgrave’s solo performance in “Nightingale,” which she also wrote, marks a triple triumph: For the woman, battling cancer for four years; for the actress, at her peak after four decades; and for the Redgrave clan, which hereby surpasses the mighty Barrymores as the royal family of stage and screen.

Essentially a tribute to her maternal grandmother, Beatrice “Beanie” Kempson, “Nightingale” encompasses a bunch of Redgraves, Lynn included. She is already a veteran of several family plays, notably the superb tribute to her dad, Michael Redgrave, “Shakespeare for My Father,” which this one very nearly equals…

TO READ THE COMPLETE REVIEW

CLICK HERE

 

Horton Foote’s The Orphans’ Home Cycle begins performances tomorrow

HORTON FOOTE’S

THE ORPHANS’ HOME CYCLE

BEGINS PERFORMANCES
NOVEMBER 5 AT SIGNATURE THEATRE COMPANY

 

 

THE ORPHANS’ HOME CYCLE, the world premiere of a three part theatrical event by the Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award-winning playwright Horton Foote, begins performances on Thursday, November 5 at Signature Theatre Company at the Peter Norton Space, 555 West 42^nd Street, between 10^th and 11^th Avenues.    THE ORPHANS’ HOME CYCLE was recently extended by popular demand for an additional three weeks through Sunday, March 28.  Tickets are on sale now through www.signaturetheatre.org and at the Signature box office. 

 

The world premiere production of THE ORPHANS’ HOME CYCLE is being co-produced by Signature Theatre Company (James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director) and Hartford Stage (Michael Wilson, Artistic Director; Michael Stotts, Managing Director). Wilson directs a 22-member company in the historic, sweeping work. 

 

THE ORPHANS’ HOME CYCLE will play from November 5, 2009 through March 28, 2010 at Signature Theatre Company. 

 

Set in Foote’s fictitious town of Harrison, Texas and based partly on the childhood of Foote’s father and the courtship and marriage of his parents, THE ORPHANS’ HOME CYCLE is a wide-ranging, intricate work that spans the lives of three families over three decades.  All actors in the production will be playing multiple roles and several will track their characters through time in the various plays which comprise the Cycle.  

 

THE ORPHANS’ HOME CYCLE begins with a father’s death in a small Texas town at the turn of the century, a loss that sends his son, Horace Robedaux, on an odyssey through the darkest corners of the heart as he learns to become a husband, father and patriarch.  Bill Heck (“The Closer,” “Medium,” “Without a Trace,” “CSI: New York”) will play the central role of the adult Horace Robedaux, with Maggie Lacey (Dividing the Estate, Inherit the Wind, Our Town) as his wife, Elizabeth Vaughn Robedaux. 

 

The playwright’s daughter, Hallie Foote (2009 Tony Award nominee, Dividing the Estate), will play Elizabeth’s mother, Mary Vaughn and James DeMarse (Dividing the Estate, The Trip to Bountiful) will play Henry Vaughn.  

 

The ensemble is rounded out by Devon Abner, Mike Boland, Pat Bowie, Leon Addison Brown, Justin Fuller, Jasmine Harrison, Henry Hodges, Georgi James, Annalee Jefferies, Virginia Kull, Gilbert Owour, Jenny Dare Paulin, Pamela Payton-Wright, Bryce Pinkham, Stephen Plunkett, Lucas Caleb Rooney, Dylan Riley Snider and Charles Turner.

 

The design team for THE ORPHANS’ HOME CYCLE includes Jeff Cowie and David Barber (Set Design), David Woolard (Costume Design), Rui Rita (Lighting Design), John Gromada (Original Music and Sound Design), Peter Pucci (Choreography), Ralph Zito (Voice/Dialect Coach) and Mark Olson (Fight Director).

 

Each part of the three part cycle will be staged individually as well as in repertory and one-day marathons.   Audiences may choose to see the individual parts or the entire trilogy. 

 

Foote completed work on THE ORPHANS’ HOME CYCLE prior to his death on March 4, 2009 at the age of 92. The cycle features nine plays that were originally written as full-length pieces.  Hartford Stage commissioned Foote in 2007 to adapt the plays in this new three-part form.

 

Part I (“The Story of a Childhood”) begins at the turn of the 20^th century and follows Horace Robedaux in his formative years.   Part I begins with the plays Roots in a Parched Ground, Convicts and Lily Dale.

 

Part II (“The Story of a Marriage”) focuses on the courtship years of Horace Robedaux and his search for a wife.  Part II consists of the plays The Widow Claire, Courtship and Valentine’s Day.

 

Part III (“The Story of a Family”) begins with the turmoil of World War I and ends with the characters looking to the future of their family and land.  Part III is made up of the plays 1918, Cousins and The Death of Papa. 

 

Four of the individual plays, Roots in a Parched Ground, Convicts, Cousins and Valentine’s Day, will be staged for the first time as part of the cycle.

 

In addition to the world premiere of THE ORPHANS’ HOME CYCLE, Foote is the subject of a biography, Horton Foote: America’s Storyteller by Wilborn Hampton, from Simon and Schuster and his final screenplay, Main Street, starring Orlando Bloom, Colin Firth, Amber Tamblyn and Ellen Burstyn, is also scheduled for release this year.

 

Signature Theatre Company devoted its 1994-1995 season to Horton Foote, including the world premieres of The Young Man from Atlanta (for which Foote won the Pulitzer Prize) and Laura Dennis and the New York premieres of Night Seasons and Talking Pictures.  Signature also produced the world premiere of his The Last of the Thorntons in its 2000-2001 Season, as well as the award-winning production of The Trip to Bountiful in 2005 during the company’s 15^th anniversary season. 

 

SIGNATURE THEATRE COMPANY, founded in 1991 by James Houghton, exists to honor and celebrate the playwright.  Signature makes an extended commitment to a playwright’s body of work and during this journey, the writer is engaged in every aspect of the creative process. For the past 18 years, the Company has devoted an entire season to the work of a single playwright, including re-examinations of past writings as well as New York and world premieres. By championing in-depth explorations of a living playwright’s body of work, the Company delivers an intimate and immersive journey into the playwright’s singular vision. 

 

Signature has presented entire seasons of the work of Edward Albee, Lee Blessing, Horton Foote, Maria Irene Fornes, John Guare, Bill Irwin, Adrienne Kennedy, Romulus Linney, Charles Mee, Arthur Miller, the historic Negro Ensemble Company, Sam Shepard, Paula Vogel, August Wilson and Lanford Wilson.  Signature remains deeply committed to these season-long residencies and during the company’s tenth and fifteenth anniversaries, Signature introduced the Legacy Program.  The Legacy Program invites past Playwrights-in-Residence back to Signature through two series: the Signature Series, which presents “signature,” or more well-known works; and the Premiere Series, which presents New York and world premieres. Signature’s twentieth anniversary season (2010-2011) will feature the work of Tony Kushner, including the first New York revival of Angels in America. 

 

Signature, its productions and its resident writers have been recognized with a Pulitzer Prize, 11 Lucille Lortel Awards, 14 OBIE Awards, five Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and 19 AUDELCO Awards, among many other distinctions.  The National Theatre Conference recognized the company as the 2003 Outstanding National Theatre of the Year.

 

TICKETS

 

Through The Signature Ticket Initiative, which seeks to make great theatre accessible to the broadest possible audience, all regularly-priced single tickets ($65) during the initial announced run are underwritten and will be available for $20 for the individual performances of all three parts. The Signature Ticket Initiative continues through Signature’s 20^th Anniversary Season (2010-2011).  

 

The Signature Ticket Initiative is made possible by the lead sponsorship of Time Warner Inc.  Generous support for The Signature Ticket Initiative is provided by Margot Adams, in memory of Mason Adams. Support for Signature Theatre Company’s Horton Foote Legacy Season is provided by American Express, the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation and the Laura Pels Foundation.

 

Tickets for all performances beginning March 9, 2010 are $65.

 

Part I begins performances November 5, Part II begins performances December 3, and Part III begins performances January 7. Marathons are scheduled for February 6 and 20 and March 6, 2010. Please visit signaturetheatre.org for the full performance calendar.

 

Tickets for the extension weeks (March 9th – 28^th) will be $65 per part.  

 

THE ORPHANS’ HOME CYCLE will play:

Tuesday-Friday at 7PM

Saturday at 8PM

Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2PM

 

THE ORPHANS’ HOME CYCLE will play at The Peter Norton Space located at 555 West 42^nd Street (between 10^th and 11^th Avenues).  For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit signaturetheatre.org or call (212) 244-PLAY (7529).   

 

Newsday Calls MTC’s NIGHTINGALE, “a special pleasure… imaginative and compelling”

NIGHTINGALE, the new play written by and starring Lynn Redgrave, opened last night at Manhattan Theatre Club at New York City Center – Stage I to warm notices from critics.

 

Below is an excerpt from Linda Winer’s review in Newsday.

 

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/theater/lynn-redgrave-s-loss-is-audience-s-gain-in-nightingale-1.1562691

review

Lynn Redgrave’s loss is audience’s gain in ‘Nightingale’

November 3, 2009 By LINDA WINER  linda.winer@newsday.com

“Nightingale” is an imaginative, compelling, cannily constructed 85 minutes about far more than we think we already know about Lynn Redgrave’s losses.

Lynn Redgrave walks jauntily over to the chair and the handsome writing desk onstage at Manhattan Theatre Club. She smiles conspiratorially at the audience, as if acknowledging that we already know more about her than strangers really should.

She pushes up the sleeves of her comfy cardigan, hardly looking at the pages propped before her. And, in about 30 seconds of rapid-fire sentence fragments, she recaps – without naming names – her last decade of famous-family disasters: her catastrophic divorce, her mastectomy, the death of her actress mother, the heart attack of her actor brother and the death of her niece, Natasha Richardson, about whom she says, “a bright light is gone.”

And we think, uh-oh, emotional blackmail ahead. It already has been reported that, for this, her third autobiographical solo, Redgrave would be seated and reading from her script because of treatment for “a medical condition which required immediate attention.” It doesn’t help that she keeps saying “tick, tock, tick, tock” between oblique references to the calamities.

So it’s a special pleasure – not to mention a bit of a relief – to report that “Nightingale” broadens beyond the particulars into an imaginative, compelling, cannily constructed 85 minutes about far more than we think we already know…

TO READ THE COMPLETE REVIEW

CLICK HERE

RAGTIME Time Out New York Photo Feature

RAGTIME

TIME OUT NEW YORK MAGAZINE

“Their Time. Our Time” Photo Feature On Stands Now

View Time Out’s Exclusive Online Portfolio:

http://tinyurl.com/yg9us9n

The new Broadway production of RAGTIME is in previews at the Neil Simon Theatre (250 West 52 Street) and officially opens on Sunday, November 15, 2009.

TIME OUT NEW YORK – RAGTIME RICHES: A PHOTO SHOOT

One of the most eagerly anticipated productions of this Broadway season is the revival of Ragtime, a musical adaptation of E.L. Doctorow’s novel: a complex turn-of-the-20th-century tapestry that weaves together stories of a WASP family, an African-American musician and a Jewish immigrant as they make their way in the new New World. Press performances don’t begin until next week, but we are pleased to offer TONY readers an exclusive first look at Joan Marcus’s beautiful photo shoot of the show’s six principal actors as they transform from modern dress to period costume.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL PORTFOLIO.

The John F. Kennedy Center’s new production of Terrence McNally, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s Tony Award^® winning musical RAGTIME, based on the E.L. Doctorow novel, features direction and choreography by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, and a majestic 28-piece orchestra led by musical director James Moore.

RAGTIME features a company of 40, starring Ron Bohmer (Father), Quentin Earl Darrington (Coalhouse Walker Jr.), Christiane Noll (Mother), Robert Petkoff (Tateh), Bobby Steggert (Mother’s Younger Brother), Stephanie Umoh (Sarah), with Christopher Cox (The Little Boy),  Sarah Rosenthal (The Little Girl),   Mark Aldrich (Willie Conklin),  Aaron Galligan-Stierle (Henry Ford),  Jonathan Hammond (Harry Houdini), Dan Manning (Grandfather), Michael X. Martin (J.P. Morgan), Mike McGowan (Stanford White), Donna Migliaccio (Emma Goldman), Josh Walden (Harry K. Thaw), Savannah Wise (Evelyn Nesbit), Eric Jordan Young (Booker T. Washington).

RAGTIME also features Sumayya Ali, Terence Archie, Corey Bradley, Jayden Brockington, Benjamin Cook, Carey Rebecca Brown, Jennifer Evans, Carly Hughes, Lisa Karlin, Valisia Lekae, James Moye, Tracy Lynn Olivera, Mamie Parris, Bryonha Parham, Nicole Powell, Kaylie Rubinaccio, Arbender J. Robinson, Benjamin Schrader, Wallace Smith, Catherine Walker, Jim Weaver, Kylil Christopher Williams.

RAGTIME is produced by Kevin McCollum, Roy Furman, Scott Delman, Roger Berlind, Max Cooper, Tom Kirdahy/Devlin Elliott, Jeffrey A. Sine, Stephanie McClelland, Roy Miller, LAMS Productions, Jana Robbins, Sharon Karmazin, Eric Falkenstein/Morris Berchard, Wendy Federman, Jamie deRoy, Sheila Steinberg, Lauren Stevens, Independent Presenters Network, Held-Haffner Productions, HRH Foundation and Emanuel Azenberg in association with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Marcia Milgrom Dodge’s production debuted at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater on April 18 and played a sold out limited engagement through May 17, 2009. Variety called the re-imagined musical “Simply stunning.” The Washington Post raved “Nothing short of heavenly. Looks and sounds so good. Glorious!,” while Bloomberg News said “Explosive and thrilling! Theater-shaking intensity…a vibrant production.”

At the dawn of the century, everything is changing…and anything is possible. Based on E.L. Doctorow’s celebrated epic novel and set in the volatile melting pot of turn-of-the-century New York, RAGTIME weaves together three distinctly American tales — that of a stifled upper-class wife, a determined Jewish immigrant and a daring young Harlem musician — united by their courage, compassion and belief in the promise of the future. Their personal journeys come alive as historic figures offer guidance and diversion – among them escape artist Harry Houdini, auto tycoon Henry Ford, educator Booker T. Washington and infamous entertainer Evelyn Nesbit. Together, their stories celebrate the struggle between tradition and independence all in pursuit of the American dream.

The celebrated production team includes scenic design by Derek McLane, costume design by Santo Loquasto, lighting design by Donald Holder, sound design by Acme Sound Partners, hair and wig design by Edward J. Wilson and orchestrations by William David Brohn.

RAGTIME originally opened on Broadway on January 18, 1998 at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts. The musical garnered four Tony Awards^® including Best Book, Original Score and Best Orchestrations. The beloved Ahrens and Flaherty score features some of the award-winning team’s best-known songs including the title song, “Make Them Hear You” and the anthem “The Wheels of a Dream.” 

RAGTIME tickets prices are $46.50, $86.50 and $126.50 (including $1.50 facility fee) and available by calling Ticketmaster at 212-307-4100 or visiting www.ticketmaster.com.

RAGTIME will play the following preview schedule from October 23 – November 14: Tues., Thurs., Fri. and Sat. eve at 8p, Sun eve at 7:30p. Wed., Sat. and Sun. mat. at 2p. Dark Mon. Opening night November 15, 2009 and onward: Tues. eve. at 7p; Wed., Thurs., Fri. and Sat. eve at 8p, Wed. and Sat. mat. at 2p; Sun. mat. at 3p. Dark Mon.